For the Children

Your eyes and ears start to notice different things when you're expecting a kid. When we're out we notice pregnant women and like to watch cute kids do cute kid things. Our long wooden stairwell seems a little longer now when I picture Noli at the top. And I'm always perking up when I hear songs for, about, or by kids.

Be warned. Even my beginning forays into this arena have alerted me that there are a lot of ways kids music can go wrong. But sticking with artists I know, I've come across some fun things for us and eventually for Noli.

Music by children

Potentially the most dangerous genre of them all. I've heard of some pretty awful ideas out there, like children singing the Now! That's Music compilations of top 40 songs. But here's one really cool class rap project that samples Jens Lekman.

Music by cool bands for children

I consider this a little safer since I know I like the bands. Here a few promising ideas:

They Might Be Giants "Here Come the 123's"--Chris and Debbie got us this one. They have a few albums geared at kids and this is the newest.

Rockabye Baby! "Lullaby Renditions of U2"--Mel got us this one. Again, I think there are a few of these out there. Haven't listened to it yet. Curious to hear what a lullaby version of Sunday Bloody Sunday sounds like.

Barenaked Ladies "Snack Time"--just heard about this one and might check it out. Isn't great when bands you like get old and have kids too?

Regular songs with parent connection

Actually, a lot of my interest now is more about songs that have to do with being or becoming a parent. Even tangentially. Take these gems that Laura included on Mon's birthday mix this year.

"Knocked Up" Kings of Leon
"The Obvious Child" Paul Simon
"Mama Wolf" Devendra Banhart
"Mama You Sweet" Lucinda Williams

I also found a couple listening to some of my back catalog this week that put a smile on my face :

"Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" John Lennon
"Goodnight" Rembrandts--great for bed time: "Goodnight my sweet angel. It's time to close your eyes."

But here are my absolute favorites right now.

"Magnolia Mountain" Ryan Adams--the lyrics have nothing to do with parenting whatsoever. But the chorus is good for obvious reasons. It's like when the band inserts the name of your hometown into the concert banter. "Whoo-hoo! He said Magnolia!"

"San Bernadino" The Mountain Goats--Bittersweet song that hit me for two separate reasons. First, the drive they take reminded me of our drive up the California coast in Dec. '05. Second, I love the way he references the roadsign they saw after she gives birth to their new son: "San Bernadino Welcomes You."

"Daughter" Loudon Wainwright III--Brilliant song about having a daughter (and being wrapped around her little finger). Let's just agree to ignore the fact that his daughter had a song about him on her last album called "Bloody Motherf***** ***hole". (I'm not kidding.)

"Wonder" Colin Meloy--So sweet. Must be a little dusty in here, my eyes are tearing up...